Hell

When the English translators came across the Hebrew word “Sheol”, they had the option of translating it into one of three English words: Hell, grave, or pit. 

The very first occurrence of the word “sheol” is translated “’grave” in Genesis 37 where we find Jacob mourning over the loss of his son Joseph…..

          Gen 37:35  And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave (sheol) unto my son mourning.

A few chapters later a similar comment is made when Jacob was fearful of losing Benjamin….

          Gen 44:29  And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave (sheol). 

These verses clearly show that the word sheol is simply our “covering at death”! 

          Psa 31:17  … the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave (sheol). 

Notice the wicked would be quiet! Silent! Not screaming in torment or agony, but simply DEAD!

Now let’s consider some of the passages where they translated sheol into the word “hell”. 

          Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell (sheol), to the sides of the pit.

Even though the English translators used a different English word (Hell),  one can tell from the context of the verse, that it is simply describing the grave, or as it is stated later in the same verse, “THE PIT”!

One monumental verse regarding a prophecy of our Saviour is in Psalms 16, where it says…

          Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol); neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 

The translators again could have used either the word “hell” or “grave” here.  Either would have worked, as they both mean the same, a covering at death!! We find the fulfillment of this prophesy in psalms in Acts 2:31…

          Act 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Christ died and was laid in the tomb (grave) but before his body started to degrade, he was resurrected. 

For 4000 years, during the entirety of the Old Testament, God taught that sheol was a covering for the dead.   It was a place that all ended up at death,  whether bad or good, and that even His son would be placed there. Today’s description of Hell is quite different.  Did God’s teachings change, or did man’s “wisdom” embellish "Hell" to a place of fiery torment?

Continue on to section 3 where we will look at the two words used for Hell in the New Testament!

In the last section we saw that throughout the Old Testament, the word for “hell” (sheol), always pointed to a covering at death, rather than a fiery torment.  Let’s now turn to the New Testament. 

In the New Testament, there are two Greek words that the translators would replace with the English word “Hell”.     The first is Gehenna.  It’s first occurrence was used by Christ in 

          Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell (Gehenna) fire. 

Gehenna was the name of a steep valley just south of Jerusalem. It was first described in Joshua 15:8, where it has the name “Hinnom” and later was marked as the location where idolatrous Jews burned their children alive to the pagan god of Molech.  We read of this area in 2 Kings 23, when Josiah, was trying to route out the pagan influences within Israel. 

          2Kings 23:10  And he (Josiah) defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. 

After the Israelites returned to Jerusalem after the exile, in order to show abhorrence for this atrocity, they turned this valley into the city dump. It was in this location, that fires were constantly burning and frequently mentioned in the New Testament.    It was not an underground realm of torment, but a visible place where trash and debris and bodies, could be incinerated. It was a fire that constantly burned.  

The second word translated Hell in the NT is the Greek word “Hades”.    We find it first used, also by Christ in 

          Mat 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell (Hades): for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

This is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word “sheol” and simply means “Grave”! How are we so sure of this statement?      Let’s demonstrate how sheol in the OT is equivalent to Hades in the New.    In section 2 we saw a direct quote of Psalms 16

          Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol); neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 

This Hebrew verse is repeated in the Greek New Testament in Acts. 

          Act 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell (hades), neither his flesh did see corruption.

Sheol is used in the Hebrew version and hades in the Greek, indicating that they are equivalent. 

Another example is in 

          1Corinthians 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave (hades), where is thy victory? 

This is a quotation from 

          Hos 13:14  .... O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave (sheol), I will be thy destruction

The translator could have used either English word “hell” or “grave”, but they opted to use the word “grave”.     This again proves that the Hebrew "sheol" is equivalent to the Greek "hades".     It also proves that both simply indicate the grave, a place we all go to when we die.     Our hope is that we will be raised from the grave, and brought back to life, and then we can truly say "O death where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory?", for then, the grave would no longer hold us and have power over us!